"Where were you last night," asked Ron "don't tell me you were actually enjoying Malfoy's wonderful company." The entire Gryffindor table broke into laughter at this remark.

"Honestly Ronald, I'd rather drink cat infused polyjuice again rather than spend an extra minute with that vile creep."

"I told Ron that," said Harry "I knew you wouldn't cut out on us like that, especially not when such an important paper was due, without a good reason."

Hermione had to withhold herself from throwing her pumpkin juice in Harry's face; she was so infuriated by this comment. Yes, Harry and Ron were her best friends, but the whole routine of her doing all the work was getting old. Seven years of carrying all three of them had worn her down something had to change. "Umm, I need to leave. I'll see you later in class," said Hermione quickly as she took off in a fashion that rather resembled the night before. A pair of grey eyes locked onto Hermione's retreating form.

"I don't know what's wrong with her this year," said Harry.

"Mmmph," was all Ron could reply through his mouth of pancakes.

Hermione returned to the Heads common room later that night and took a seat in front of the fire. Was this all her time at Hogwarts boiled down to—a lousy badge and book filled nights. Tears made a slow procession down her face as she threw roll after roll of old papers into the flames; she found a sick joy in watching as the big red Os turned to ash and disintegrated, it felt as if she were throwing her past into those flames and starting a new.

A pair of strong defined arms wrapped around her shivering body and cradled her. Draco held her, not saying a word as her tears stained his shirt. "Hermione," said Draco, tilting her head so he could stare in her eyes. "Hermione, look at me please," he was borderline pleading. She shifted her eyes to stare into his, the intensity of his gaze felt as if it would pierce her soul. "Hermione I've spent the past few months with you, and even though at first we fought, and you hexed me, and I made you cry, and-"

"Draco, you're rambling"

"Well, what I'm trying to say is over our time together I did the one thing I thought I would never do, I fell in love…I love you Hermione."

"No you don't, you don't even know me! How can you love me!" she said before running off to her room and slamming her door.

Hermione sat on her bed, numb; she didn't have any more tears to cry. The thoughts in her head were almost too much to handle, her own brain was berating her. She ruined the one safe thing she had left, the one person who had any idea who she was (because she sure as hell didn't). Did he really love her? Hermione couldn't imagine anyone loving her; she even doubted her parent's love for her: they only loved her because she's their daughter. Ignoring the banging on her door, Hermione walked over to her desk where she had a small jewelry box hidden. Inside the box there was a compact mirror, which held her only release. No one knew about this, it was the one thing that stayed the same no matter how much Hermione changed. She went back to her bed and placed a raggedy old shirt on her lap. Bringing the blade to her wrist she pressed down, just enough pressure to bleed, but not enough to reach the vein; she didn't want to die she just wanted to feel.

"Hermione! Please let me in, I meant every word I said. Please."

Hermione wiped off her wrist and placed a concealing charm on it just as she had been doing since her first time in third year. If anyone knew how to lie and scheme it was her, she had gotten this secret past her friends, professors, and parents—as far as anyone knew she was a happy go lucky overachiever. She walked over to her desk and replaced her secret, until the next time.

Opening the door Hermione found Draco seated and waiting in the common room, a look of pure torture on his face. She went and sat down next to him "I'm sorry Draco."

"Hermione-"

"No Draco, please hear me out. If anyone knows me it is you. I hardly know myself yet you seem to know me and it scares me. I think I love you too, but I'm too afraid to let myself I don't know what I'd do if you broke my heart. I want to believe you love me, but I know you don't, you just can't…look at me. You don't love me Draco, you don't!"

At this last statement Hermione was dissolved to tears for the second time that night.

"Draco took her into his arms, Hermione you need to listen to me. It doesn't matter if you love me because I love you and you can't change that. I will love enough for the both of us if I have to; I just need you in my life. I will never, ever, break your heart. I would rather kill myself first. You are the reason I wake up every morning. These are the truest words I will have ever spoken in my life. These are the realest feelings I have ever felt; sometimes I feel they might overwhelm me. I stay up all night trying to make sense of this and I can't that's how I know it's real I can't make any sense of this. I just love you with ever fiber of my being and that won't change two minutes from now or two hundred years from now."

Hermione looked up and kissed Draco. They stayed there in each other's arms all night, hardly able to process what had occurred. Hermione was terrified even as she lay in Draco's arms feeling the safest she had in years. Draco slept with a smile on his face; he had the one person he loved more than life in his arms and he wasn't planning on letting that change.